A pre-de Blasio defense of Bloomberg's Taxi of Tomorrow Cap...

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1 A pre-de Blasio defense of Bloomberg's Taxi of Tomorrow Cap... A pre-de Blasio defense of Bloomberg's Taxi of Tomorrow BY DANA RUBINSTEIN 11:47 am Nov. 8, 2013 A group of prominent New York business, civic and transit organizations and individuals have signed on to a court brief in support of outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg's embattled Taxi of Tomorrow program. A lower court's ruling that the Taxi of Taxi of Tomorrow via taxioftomorrow.com Tomorrow program violates the law by both exceeding the administration's mandate and undermining the City Council's powers "must be reversed since both alleged grounds for striking down the Rules are incorrect as a matter of law," reads the amicus brief filed yesterday by Kostelanetz & Fink attorneys Claude Millman and Caroline Rule, and representing, among others, the Bryant Park Corporation, the 34th Street Partnership, the Global Gateway Alliance, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Regional Plan Association chairman and former M.T.A. executive direct Elliot Sander, and Transportation Alternatives. Paul Herzan, the chairman of Cooper-Hewitt who was involved with the Taxi of Tomorrow from the start and is now trying to form a taxi alliance to advance the interests of riders, is also a signatory. The Bloomberg administration wants to replace nearly all yellow taxis on New York City streets with one homogenous, boxy Nissan vehicle known as the Taxi of Tomorrow. Unlike today's existing motley fleet, the NV200 would have a number of rider-, driver-, pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly features. Unlike current New York taxis which are regular passenger cars retrofitted to be taxicabs with no safety guidelines or crash regulations governing how this is done, and with metal and plexiglass partitions between front and back seats installed after the vehicles are purchased, thus weakening the vehicles structural integrity the Taxi of Tomorrow is purpose-built, with numerous pre-installed safety features, the most significant of which is that the partition is now part of the vehicle s basic structure and does not interfere with side air bag deployment," reads the brief. The vehicle's front end is designed to mitigate pedestrian injuries, and the car comes with sliding doors to eliminate "dooring" of cyclists on city streets. When a passenger opens the door, a light goes on to alert people outside. Also, there's passenger-controlled air conditioning and heating, a panoramic glass roof, reading lights, charging ports for electronics, and so on. But the program has faced energetic opposition from disability advocates who decry the car's lack of wheelchair accessibility, from environmentalists who dislike the removal of existing hybrid taxis in favor of taxis with combustion-engines, and from taxi medallion owners, who object (and litigate) pretty much whenever the city imposes new rules on their operations. In early October, in response to a suit from medallion kingpin Evgeny Friedman and the Greater New York Taxi Association, a lower court judge ruled that the program could not move forward as planned. The city is appealing, but court actions take time and Bloomberg's stint in office is fast running out. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has received more than $350,000 from the taxi industry and has spoken unfavorably of the Taxi of Tomorrow program. 1 of 2 11/25/13 10:07 AM He has yet to say whether he will continue the appeal of the court's ruling on the city's behalf. Passengers are chronically underrepresented in debates about taxi policy, so kudos to these civic leaders for speaking up on their behalf," said taxi commissioner David Yassky in a statement.

2 A pre-de Blasio defense of Bloomberg's Taxi of Tomorrow Cap... Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has received more than $350,000 from the taxi industry and has spoken unfavorably of the Taxi of Tomorrow program. He has yet to say whether he will continue the appeal of the court's ruling on the city's behalf. Passengers are chronically underrepresented in debates about taxi policy, so kudos to these civic leaders for speaking up on their behalf," said taxi commissioner David Yassky in a statement. 2 of 2 11/25/13 10:07 AM

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